Our Urban Town a Publication of the Staten Island Urban CenterOur Urban Town is a quarterly publication that shares thought provoking, intellectually provocative, community news, ideas and opinions from Staten Island's urban neighborhoods.

#reSIStah issue​in celebration of women's history month

​the Woke reSIStah Issue Our Urban Town publishes thought provoking ideas, intellectually provocative reflections, community news, and opinions from the very people in the community who passionately live and/or work with these issues. In this Woke ReSistah Issue, Our Urban Town shares the writings of women activists on Staten Island as a tribute to the contributions of women right now in this borough. Due to space constraints, these are just a small sample of women activists doing the work on the island, but our hope is that these writings inspire readers to be or continue to be activists, to share real stories, advocate for real solutions and to fight for real for the things they believe in. In the era of WOKE and RESIST, it’s our time to be activists everywhere we go and in everything we do.Kelly Vilar,​Editor of Our Urban Town & ​CEO of Staten Island Urban Center

TheLet’s Rebuild Cromwell Community Coalitionstands with thousands of Staten Islanders and virtually every elected official including Councilmember Debi Rose, our NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, NYC Public Advocate Letitia James and various state and federal officials to urge our city government to rebuild the Cromwell Recreation Center. This is a major capital project that Staten Island and our city needs right now.

Let's not forget that on October 9, 2015 a 16 year old boy fell to his death playing in an abandoned building on the north shore of Staten Island. Up until 6 years ago, a few blocks away awaiting renovation was Cromwell, the largest public recreation center on Staten Island that SERVED AN AVERAGE OF 750 PEOPLE DAILY. Youth from all over the Island had frequented Cromwell Center since the 1950s. As a result of years of storm and shoreline damages, it was finally ravaged by Hurricane Sandy and demolished completely after having waited many years to be renovated.

Right now in the very vicinity of where Cromwell Recreation Center existed, Staten Island’s Northshore waterfront is experiencing the largest economic development project in 30 years and our community has broken ground on a new court house for criminals, an observation wheel for tourists, malls with high end stores for shoppers, and a luxury hotel along with exclusive waterfront apartments. But Staten Island has not broken ground on a single facility for public use on Northshore waterfront.We are not an anti-development group, we are pro-community group.We must break ground on Cromwell Recreation Center and it must be in the FY 2018 Budget and we need your help. Every child we lose because we lack positive play and recreation outlets is the slow death of our community where youth are lost to loitering in a community with the fastest growing drug and gang problem in the city.

The Let’s Rebuild Cromwell Community Coalition---a group of neighbors from civic organizations, churches, community based organizations and small businesses have petitioned over 1000 people and have galvanized thousands others through social media to come together to say one thing---

REBUILD CROMWELL RECREATION CENTER!Cromwell must be in the 2018 Capital Budget for design and construction

Cromwell was a huge facility. Unprecedented in its enormous size, it had 6 basketball courts, a gym, boxing ring, running track, weight and fitness rooms and several mixed use arts and crafts space. Cromwell had many users coming from all parts of Staten Island and the other boroughs because it had so much to offer and most of all because it was near the ferry terminal, the only major transportation hub of Staten Island.

Senator Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand both came to Staten Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and said “Cromwell Center needs to be rebuilt and it was a vital resource for the community.”

Today the potential for the Cromwell Recreation Center is enormous, but we need an urgent response from you that will elevate Cromwell to Capital Project status in 2018. We do not want to see another child lost because they have no opportunities for positive recreation. We do not want to see our community redeveloped with investments for everyone else but its existing residents in mind. We urge you to help us get our center back.